In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2009-168858, (hereinafter “JP 2009-168858”), a conventional technique regarding a toner container of a copy machine is disclosed. The toner container is structured in line with specifications according to a model of a copy machine, and supplies a contained toner to the copy machine such that a rotation shutter rotates and thus changes its state from a closing state to an opening state. A lock mechanism is attached to such a container in order for the rotation shutter to rotate only when the toner container is mounted on a compatible copy machine.
The lock mechanism is formed by a convex portion provided with a casing of the toner container, and a lock plate attached to a rotation shaft of the rotation shutter, and restricts rotation of the rotation shutter by the insertion of the convex portion into a locking hole formed on the lock plate. The lock plate described above is separately prepared according to the respective toner containers having different specifications (such as each having a different screw diameter). In a manufacturing setting, workers manufacture a toner container by attaching a lock plate thereto that is compatible to the specifications of the toner container.
Such copy machine (image forming device) and toner container are disclosed in detail in JP 2009-168858, for example.